Oregon's Shocking Loss to Oklahoma State Puts National Championship Hopes in Danger

On paper, it all made so much sense.

A dominant quarterback with true Heisman aspirations. Future NFL draft picks scattered across the defensive line. A stacked cupboard of elite wide receivers. Exceptional options up and down the roster—thanks largely to robust NIL budget—overflowing with speed and capable of swallowing college football whole.

Two weeks in, and Oregon's national championship aspirations are on life-support.

Sure, it's early. We can lean on that very obvious sentiment if you choose, and you wouldn't be wrong.

For a program that so many—including this writer—picked to win the national championship, it's hard to believe this is the conversation we're having in the middle of September.

But it's the conversation we must have after Oregon lost 39-31 against Oklahoma State.

Yes, that Oklahoma State. The team that won a grand total of one football game last year—the first one—before firing its head coach and completely rebooting. The team that plucked more than 60 players from the transfer portal and overhauled almost its entire roster with new faces. The team that lost outright to Tulsa as a double-digit favorite in Week 1.

Yes, that one.

Brian Bahr/Getty Images

Truth be told, the score should have been more lopsided. Oklahoma State should have beat Oregon, which began the season ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll, by at least two touchdowns if not more.

Oregon, which one assumed would have a dominant advantage on the line of scrimmage, struggled mightily in that department. The defense was gashed, and the offensive line never looked right.

With new coordinators on both sides of the ball, things look messy. That's putting it mildly.

Quarterback Dante Moore looked lost throughout much of the game, completing just 14 of 29 passes. The play calling was questionable; the execution was worse.

The total yards help tell the full story: Oklahoma State 554, Oregon 281.

For the Ducks, the issues don't stop with this loss. Those who wish to label this performance a "fluke" will have to address the performance against Boise State from Week 1 as well.

Dan Lanning's team gutted out a 34-27 victory last Saturday, although the optics were less than ideal. All the concerns that emerged on Saturday were evident one week ago.

All told, Oregon was favored by at least 24 points in its first two games. The Ducks will enter Week 3 having nearly lost both.

Icon Sportswire/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The good news, if there is any presently, is that the college football season doesn't end this week. Oregon has at least 10 more games to get right before the College Football Playoff doors close.

As we've seen in the past, it's much better to get the bad losses out of the way sooner than later. The selection committee has made this part obvious.

A lot can happen between now and then, and it's not farfetched to assume the team we saw fall flat on Saturday in Stillwater will at some point rebound.

Well, perhaps.

Or perhaps what we witnessed on Saturday will persist throughout the year. Oregon could wind up being this year's Penn State—a team that garnered plenty of preseason national championship hype that year that fell flat on its face.

In less than two weeks, Oregon will play at USC. At this point, the Ducks are likely to be an underdog, starring a potential 2-2 start in the face.

The following game, the Ducks will take on a suddenly frisky UCLA. And later on, they'll play Ohio State in Columbus along with Michigan and Washington.

We can do the math. In recent history, teams with three losses don't make the College Football Playoff. That holds especially true for teams with bad losses on their resume, and this one certainly falls under that category presently.

This result will haunt this team, plain and simple.

Yes, it's early. But the full resume is building throughout. So, while it would be prudent to exercise patience and avoid any mammoth declarations, the situation is already dire.

And that's just the conversation to get into the College Football Playoff. Oregon has been there, done that.

This was a season that began with much greater aspirations than making the bracket. All the pieces were seemingly in place to do something more, and the expectations were drastically elevated as a result.

None of that matters now. Oregon must recalibrate, and it must do so quickly. The Ducks play Portland State in Week 3, and then, with the season seemingly on the brink, Oregon will travel to USC.

It's not too late to fix what suddenly feels like a broken season. But as the saying goes, it's getting late early.